Colorado Avalanche @ San Jose Sharks Game 2 recap
Evgeni Nabokov earned the win in his worst playoff performance
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I must admit I only saw the final ten minutes of the Avs first playoff game as I was at the Rockies games that went through 10 innings. From what I saw the game was very fast and San Jose looked tired.
A quick perusal of the stats and I saw it was a pretty clean game with each team only committing three penalties. I do not expect this to be the same tonight. If the Avs skated the Sharks around until they were out of juice in game one, I think the Sharks are going to try to beat up the Avs tonight. The Avs being who they are (7th in the league in fighting) won’t stand for it, and somewhere in the middle someone is going to the box.
Of course, the refs may just swallow their whistle today which would benefit the Avs. The Avs win this game if they stay out of the penalty box and when they have the misfortune of landing there, they must kill penalties. Not the most original opinion, but it is the right way to look at this series.
1st Period.
Right out the gate the Avs are the beneficiaries of a bad goal.
A squeaker by Milan Hejduk that Evgeni Nabokov got a piece of with his glove hand (and should have caught) that just slipped through. Goal 1-0 Avalanche. I find myself wondering if Nabokov is the new Turco. Lights-out good from October 1st to April 10th and then disappears without actually leaving the ice.
Well it looks like I might be right about the Sharks making the game physical. Joe Pavelski is charge with interference on Darcy Tucker on a dump and chase. 2:00 Penalty Interference. Pavelski didn’t even attempt to even find the puck… he just went straight for Tucker.
The Avs get a couple of decent shots off on the PP, but none that had a good chance of scoring. The Sharks are clogging the middle with two and pursuing the puck with two it keep the Avs off balance and draws a really stupid holding call from Kyle Cuminski on Torrey Mitchell. Kill. 2:00 Penalty Holding
The ensuing PK is spent chasing the puck back and forth across the ice with no shots and sloppy offense on both sides. But the San Jose PP showed they intend to cause confusion with quick puck movement along the blue line; earned them two good shots. Fortunately, Craig Anderson came to play, and makes good saves on both. Kill.
On a pass ahead to a work-in (or at least what looked like that and really turned out to be a dump and chase) the pass ahead goes right by Logan Couture and Adam Foote dumps him. 2:00 Penalty Interference. It looked to me like Couture touched the puck until the replay. I can see why Foote dumped him.
The Avs adjust to the tactics of San Jose very well on this Penalty Kill and most of the time is spent outside the Avs zone. Kill. That’s exactly what the Avs need in order to win the series. Gaps would open and then close right before the puck would be passed through.
The Avs are getting some good minutes out of their harassment lines. Cody McCloud’s line is spending most of their shift time causing trouble in the San Jose zone.
Joe Sacco gets unlucky and calls a line change right before a deflected pucks find its way into the Avs’ bench area. 2:00 Penalty Too Many Men. The Avs players and coaching staff need to focus and stay out of the box. San Jose’s offense doesn’t need any more chances.
San Jose has changed its PP strategy, now they’re playing hard along the end boards and poaching the back side of the net. It produces a great scoring chance for Dany Heatley to squander by hitting the cross bar of a wide-open net from eight feet. The Shark keep the fight alive, though, and on the next pressure Manny Malhotra takes a rebound and lifts it over Anderson’s glove side shoulder from close range. PP Goal Tied 1-1. The Avs Penalty Kill looked great until that backside poacher made a perfect shot.
The Sharks close the period playing keep away, apparently content to go into intermission tied at 1.
End Period Tied 1-1
The Avs lose focus one too many times and it burns them. This series hinges on the Avs Penalty Kill vs San Jose’s Power Play. The Avs will have a much harder time winning if they keep taking penalties.
All in all, the Avalanche look like they are playing the better brand of hockey, but the Sharks are in control of the pace (maybe having a quarter of the period to play man advantage has something to do with that). If the Avs can start forcing the issue a little better and everything else remains the same, all signs point to a 4-2/5-2 victory for the Avalanche.
2nd Period
Chris Stewart will not be denied. Right out of the gate, a decent rush by San Jose ends disastrously. Andy tracts down the puck in the slot and somehow everyone on San Jose forgets about Colorado’s most dynamic player. Andy to Stewart, Stewart breakaway down the left slot, stick fake, wrist shot, five hole Goal 2-1 Avalanche. It doesn’t get any easier.
San Jose comes right back with some really good puck movement to get Rob Blake open in the left side circle, wrist shot over Andy’s glove side shoulder. Goal Tied 2-2. Debatable whether Andy should have stopped it. What is not debatable is whether it was a perfect shot.
Avs turn to come back, Matt Duchene and Hejduk on the work-in from the left side. Once again it’s all set up by bad defense on San Jose’s part. Two defenders both check Duchene, easy pass across to Hejduk, and when Hejduk is alone in front of a goaltender he doesn’t miss much. Wrist shot glove side Goal 3-2 Avalanche. Three goals before the first commercial break of the second period.
Sloppy play by the top line after a face off next to Anderson. Lazy skating by an Avs defender lets Ryane Clowe skate around the back of the net and toss the puck out in front for Devin Setoguchi crashing the net. Goal Tied 3-3. The top line hung Andy out to dry there.
Paul Stastny just cross checked Jason Demers from behind on a dump and chase. 2:00 Penalty Cross Checking. The Sharks had better numbers but the puck was in the corner and they were a good 5 seconds away from getting into position for a goal. Bad penalty.
The Avs via some great blue line defense spend a considerable amount of the first 1:30 of the penalty kill in San Jose’s zone, and then in the final 10 second Anderson makes what could turn out to be save of the game on Setoguchi in the crease. Kill. The Avs are showing some fight after the bad play to let the Sharks back in.
Rob Blake trying to break up a play on the left side of Nabokov puts Duchene into the wall with a knee to the thigh. 2:00 Minutes Kneeing. It could have been tripping or boarding too, but it was an obvious penalty of some type
The Avs tried to do what they are good at on the PP, dump and chase, and once they’re set up, work it down low and throw it on net from the side. But nothing works on the PP, every bounce goes San Jose’s way. Kill.
Brandon Yip on the left side take a Duchene rebound and skates in, hard wrist shot, forcing the puck in a narrow hole on the stick side on Nabokov. Goal Avalanche 4-3. Just a gritty Muck goal. The Avs will take it.
A lucky bounce off the boards puts the puck in the hands of Jed Ortmeyer from twenty feet in the slot. Wrist shot easy save for Andy. When Andy went to cover, Scott Nichol drove his stick just underneath Andy to tap it in. Goal Tied 4-4. The Sharks even it with a muck goal of their own.
End Period Tied 4-4
Credit the first 4 goals of the period to defensive mistakes and the final two to garbage men doing their jobs. Credit both the Avs and Sharks for having short memories and getting back to work after mistakes.
The play was much closer this period in both control of tempo and general game play. I now think it’s anybody’s game.
To win this game, the Avalanche must avoid the Penalty Box and have to fix the defensive mistakes. Just keep in mind the Avs shouldn’t even be here and the Sharks have everything to prove. The pressure is all on the Sharks. Smart, solid play should win out.
3rd Period
The Period opens with some hard skating by San Jose and some good, smart play from the Avs. The Sharks are clearing trying to out-work the Avs and the Avs are letting the Shark wear themselves out.
A Neutral Zone take away by Ryan Wilson gives the puck to Stastny on the work-in with Stewart. The Sharks were entirely out of position to deal with this. Stastny cross-ice to Stewie, wrist shot along the ice to the far side Goal 5-4 Avalanche.
Coming across the Neutral Zone on the first drive after the goal, Ryan O’Rielly gets tangled up with Couture and is whistle for tripping 2:00 Penalty Tripping. Just one of those unlucky moments and now the Avs have to kill off another.
The AVs one a pair of board battles for clears early on to kill off most of the Power Play. And then the new possible save of the game, a jam in on Andy’s glove side so close a few Sharks raise their hands in victory and the play is reviewed. The puck may even have gone in through the narrowest of nooks, but no conclusive video evidence. Kill
Immediately following the Kill, the Sharks get a great rush with numbers and position, but on the finish Setoguchi bowls over Andy on the way to the goal 2:00 Penalty Goal Tender Interference. It was close… kinda feel like the Shark got the shaft there.
1:20 into the PP, T. J. Galiardi beats Blake down the left side on a work in pass and Blake has no choice but to check him, 2:00 Penalty Interference. 40 Seconds of 5 on 3 coming.
The Avs 5 on 3 is pathetic; 0 shots, 2 blocked shots. Bad puck movement, bad shot selection. Kill. The remainder of the PP isn’t much better, the Shark are stacking the line and the only option is the dump and chase. The Shark outskated every Avalanche dump and Chase. Kill. The Sharks play big in a big moment and keep themselves in the game.
Five and half minutes left and the Avs have stepped up the energy. The Sharks don’t look quite pooped yet, but with a goal lead and the game close to its end no reason not to. This game is Andy’s to win if he can throw up the wall.
Less than a minute later and the Avs have turned the slot into a mess of bodies. Won’t help Andy see, but not a lot will get though. Galiardi and Dan Boyle get into it a little after the play.
Brandon Yip on a dump and chase over skates the puck turns around and slashes Setoguchi. 2:00 Penalty Slashing This could be a blessing in disguise. Sure a success here on the PP put the game in jeopardy, but this is pretty much Last Chance Charlie for the Sharks. It’s tough to see them finding any confidence to score later if they fail here.
The Avs defense comes up big. The Sharks got off three shots, two long ones Andy saw all the way and a slow moving puck in front that Andy turned away. Kill. The Sharks will use a timeout and pull the goalie next. But this looks like another good year followed by a bad playoffs for the Sharks.
A defensive zone turnover gives the Sharks numbers coming across left to right. Heatley finds Joe Thornton alone in the slot, wrist shot stick side, save, rebound to Pavelski Goal Tied 5-5. One lapse in focus on a clear and now the game is up for grabs in overtime.
End Period Tied 5-5
Once again the Avs played the better brand of hockey in the period but a late mistake leaves them in a tie. I feel like the Avs should win this game, but now everything can go wrong on one play. I suppose I was premature in declaring the Sharks as fish food. Props to them, they came back every time and even got a vengeance late goal. But no coming back from the next one.
Obviously special teams will want to be avoided by both teams. Now defensive play becomes critical. The Avs have the advantage here. I expect both teams to come out cautiously to see what the other will do. This also favors the Avs since the Sharks figure to be more worn with the hard skating all game. The Sharks have the momentum and the crowd.
Good game though.
OT
So much for a slow cautious start. Both teams are flying around trying to end this thing quick.
After a furious opening for both teams, Foote is whistled for Interference. (I looked at the replay and didn’t see a penalty on either player, the contact was incidental). 2:00 Penalty Interference. Bad penalties in these situations can really cause trouble.
Another defensive zone turnover, give the puck to Clowe who skates to the left circle, turns and fires, tip-in by Setoguchi. PP Goal Sharks 6-5. Game Over.
End Game 6-5 Sharks, Series Tied 1-1
The Sharks lead the game for exactly 0 seconds but that’s all they needed. The Avs defense hung Andy out to die on 4 of the 6 goals. Factor in the Sacco penalty and this game could easily be a 5-1 rout.
This one is a game to think about and then forget. Every time the Avs had a chance to put the game out of reach they made a mental mistake and let the Sharks back in. More important is the way the Sharks won… the constant comebacks will give them confidence in future games. I think that the Avs just lost this series. It will take a perfect game or a crushing comeback to save the Avs at this point.
Very awesome Game 2 Recap.
Found this thru google and wanted to read the game from a Avs point of view.
Go Sharks.